Born in 1883 in Galeana, Nuevo León, Nava attended the state's teachers' training college and in 1900, became headmistress of the high school in Tula, Tamaulipas.
Together with Dolores Jiménez Muro, she drafted anti-government articles in Cuautla and other cities in the state of Morelos.
They were both commissioned to carry out tasks by Emiliano Zapata[4] She is also remembered for founding the Centro Feminista Mexicano, the country's first feminist association,[3] and for being an organizer of the Club Femenil Antireeleccionista "Hijas de Cuauhtemoc", a group of revolutionary women opposed to the re-election of Bernardo Reyes.
Because of her defense of the maderism movement and for her public condemnation of General Victoriano Huerta, Nava was put in jail.
In 1922, together with María Penteria Meza, she represented the Feminist Council at the Pan-American Women's Conference in Baltimore which was also attended by the Mexican delegates Elena Torres, Eulalia Guzmán, and Luz Vera.